science

Maria Helena Semedo

Maria Helena Semedo is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Maria Helena Semedo rather than just read about it. In short: Maria Helena Semedo (born 29 May 1959) is a Cape Verde economist and politician who served as Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization. Early life and education Semedo was born on 29 May 1959 in Cape Verde.

Key takeaways

Maria Helena Semedo belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Maria Helena Semedo to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Maria Helena Semedo from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Maria Helena Semedo (born 29 May 1959) is a Cape Verde economist and politician who served as Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Early life and education Semedo was born on 29 May 1959 in Cape Verde. She has a masters in economics from the Higher Institute of Economics and Management in Lisbon, Portugal.

Career Semedo worked as an economist for the Bank of Cape Verde from 1986 to 1991 and for the Ministry of Planning and Cooperation from 1991 to 1993. Semedo was appointed as Minister of Fishers, Agriculture and Rural Development in 1993, making her the first female cabinet minister in Cape Verde. In 1995, she became Minister of Maritime Affairs, then in 1998 Minister of Tourism. She was elected to the National Assembly in 2001, serving until 2003. During this period she was vice president of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Semedo joined the FAO in 2003 as a representative in Niger. She was appointed Deputy Regional Representative for Africa in 2008. In 2009, she was appointed Assistant Director-General in the regional office for Africa in Accra, Ghana. In June 2013, José Graziano da Silva, Director General of the FAO, appointed her Deputy Director-General and Coordinator of Natural Resources and served there till 2017. At a speech in Rome in 2014, Semedo alleged that if current rates of degradation continue, all of the world's topsoil could be gone within 60 years. This was an influential claim that has been frequently repeated, but appears to lack any basis in science. In 2015, she noted that agriculture is often seen as a threat in the fight against climate change, but that the sector needs "to be integrated in climate policies." At the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016, she spoke about the crucial role agriculture can play in addressing climate change as well as poverty and hunger. In January 2017 she called for an immediate response to drought in the Horn of Africa, telling a panel at the 28th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, "The magnitude of the situation calls for scaled up action and coordination at national and regional levels."

Personal life Semedo is married. She speaks Portuguese, French, English and Spanish. In December 2015, while in Kenya, she contracted the Zika virus but recovered well.

Awards and honors Order of the Niger for "distinguished service to the field of agriculture", May 2008

Publications Semedo, Maria Helena (30 July 2010). "Human catastrophe looming". Mail and Guardian. Semedo, Maria Helena (2012). "Message to Readers" (PDF). Nature and Faune. 26 (2): 1–2. Semedo, Maria Helena (26 November 2015). "Global Bioeconomy Summit Statement" (PDF).

References

External links Video interview from the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Maria Helena Semedo

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Maria Helena Semedo claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Maria Helena Semedo before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Maria Helena Semedo ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Maria Helena Semedo

In research: Maria Helena Semedo appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Maria Helena Semedo in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Maria Helena Semedo is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1959 births, 20th-century women politicians, 21st-century women politicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Maria Helena Semedo outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Maria Helena Semedo in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Maria Helena Semedo means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Maria Helena Semedo out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Maria Helena Semedo in simple terms?

Maria Helena Semedo (born 29 May 1959) is a Cape Verde economist and politician who served as Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization. Early life and education Semedo was born on 29 May 1959 in Cape Verde.

Why does Maria Helena Semedo matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Maria Helena Semedo?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Maria Helena Semedo.